Somehow I knew it would only get worse
by Scurryfunger
Summary: Kagome's grandfather remembers that he promised Kagome as a fiancee to Ranma and sends her off to meet him in a bid to get her away from Inuyasha. Discontinued
1. Prologue

A/N: I've had to make up a few names and places for this fic. As far as I can tell, Kagome lives somewhere in Tokyo, and Ranma lives in Nerima, which I now know is one of the wards within Tokyo. For the sake of this story Kagome will live in the Itabashi ward, within walking distance of the Tendo dojo. If I make any blatant or annoying errors, please feel free to correct me, all I know is basically from the manga and anime versions of Inuyasha and Ranma, and I've forgotten a lot of the details. I've also made up a first name for Kagome's grandfather, just for convenience saying "Kagome's grandfather or even jii-chan again and again got a little old." Basically I found a list of Japanese names and randomly chose Michio… hopefully it is suitable.

At a small shrine in Itabashi, a fifteen year old girl falls down a well on her birthday. When she returns a few days later to her extremely worried family it is with an inu-youkai, a quest, and new found powers.

A mere forty minute walk away in Nerima, ignorant to the drama taking place, Genma Saotome double checked his calendar before crossing off the name 'Kagome Higurashi' in a little black travel booklet and sighing in relief. Another fiancée had failed to show up, either because the girl had refused to be betrothed to a complete stranger, or because her grandfather had conveniently forgotten about the agreement to bring his granddaughter to meet Ranma shortly after her fifteenth birthday. Genma hoped it was the latter, according to his notes, the old codger had been deadly serious and highly traditional.

Shaking off his lingering anxiety, Genma carefully rehid the notebook so Ranma would find it—when he thought of his son's reaction to discovering just how many girls he'd been promised to, Genma shuddered—and left his room to join the Tendo family for dinner.


	2. Chapter 1

Kagome's grandfather, Michio Higurashi, grumbled as he carefully cleaned an antique vase that had been passed down through the Higurashi family for generations. He had supported Kagome's quest for the Shikon jewel these past six months, and was pleased that she was finally taking her responsibilities as shrine priestess more seriously, but that demon companion of hers was unacceptable, and positively infuriating. Inuyasha not only insulted the sacred charms he tried to give Kagome for her battle against evil, he also showed no reaction to his sutra attacks, and had thoroughly impressed Sota—his own grandson looked up to a demon more than his own flesh and blood!

Worse than all this though, was Inuyasha's possessive manner towards his granddaughter, and her subtle reciprocation of his interest. When Kagome wasn't yelling at Inuyasha, she was giving him sidelong looks of awe and infatuation that chilled Michio to the bone. He didn't want a demonic grandchild! For now, Kagome was more likely to sit Inuyasha than hug him, but that could change at any moment! It was already happening! In the past six months she'd gone from about a sit command per minute to only one every hour or so! She'd already refused the attentions of that nice Hojo numerous times, how was he to find her a nice boy for her to marry? At one time he'd have demanded nothing less than a priest, but at this point, he'd settle for human.

His brain, far too accustomed to running along this track, tiredly attempted to dredge up a solution, and unexpectedly found a diamond memory among the sludge of possibilities. In all the worry over Kagome's disappearance, he'd completely forgotten about Kagome's engagement! She was already promised to another man! Michio Higurashi carefully replaced the ancient family artifacts he'd been cleaning, and hurried into the house, chuckling as he planned 'Operation Saotome.'


	3. Chapter 2

"What!" Kagome screamed shrilly, before continuing in a slightly more reasonable tone. "Finding out I had a powerful jewel that attracts evil demons in my body was bad enough, now it turns out I have a fiancée?! No! I refuse! Grandpa can send a letter to the guy, make up an illness, tell him there is no way I'll marry him. Even if I wanted a fiancee, I have way too much to deal with right now! Why isn't grandpa telling me this himself anyway? He's the one who practically bartered me away!"

'He probably anticipated your reaction and decided to stay out of the line of fire,' Kagome's mother thought dryly before trying to calm her understandably irate daughter.

"Kagome, I understand how you feel, I'm annoyed with your grandfather too, this is the first I've heard about a fiancé, but you know how traditional Jii-chan is. He says that the two of you are honor bound to respect the agreement. He wants to leave for Nerima immediately. I think you should go, if only so you can turn the poor boy down in person. Who knows, this could be the first he has heard of it too, the deal was made about ten years ago after all. This entire situation is completely your grandfather's fault, but he does have a point. It would be unfair and dishonorable to turn down a longstanding engagement via letter. You won't even need to go far to see the young man, he lives a short way from here, you could easily take public transportation or walk to get there and come right home so this won't interfere with your quest."

Kagome sighed, resentful of this new complication in her life. Arguing with her mom was hard, practically every escape route had been cut off…

"Okay mom, I guess you're right, I'll go talk to the boy, but I'm not taking grandfather with me! If he has his way I'll probably end up with a wedding date and ring, it seems awfully convenient that he only just remembered this mysterious fiancée. Do you have the address, or his name? I'd like to get this over with so I can get back to studying, what I actually came home to do."

"I have the name and address here, but don't you want to talk to your grandfather before you leave?"

"No, I'd probably end up yelling at him, and I really want to get this over with and out of my life."

"Very well dear, I'll tell your grandfather where you've gone. I want you to know, I'm very proud of you for dealing with this so maturely, and don't forget not to blame Ranma Saotome, this wasn't his fault any more than it is yours."

"Thank you mom, don't worry, the only person I'm blaming right now is grandpa."

Kagome decided to walk to the Tendo dojo in order to give herself plenty of time to blow off her anger. The walking worked, but had the unfortunate result that her righteous anger was almost completely replaced by rampant embarrassment and nerves by the time she was standing in front of the "Tendo School of Martial Arts."

Kagome firmly reminded herself that confronting her fiancée would be nothing in comparison to man eating demons, but the thought did little to comfort her nerves. Gathering her courage, Kagome walked up to the front door and firmly rapped. A chorus of shouts met her knocking, and Kagome listened carefully to try and make out the words.

"Kasumi, there's someone at the door," a distinctly masculine voice called out.

"Could you get it Ranma? I have my hands full right now with tonight's dinner," a woman shouted in answer.

"Kay, but don't blame me if we have to buy a new door."

Kagome wondered if she'd heard that last bit right— why would they need to buy a new door?—when suddenly said door swung open to reveal the first speaker. He was definitely a boy, looked to be about her age, and was actually sort of cute. Now if only he had dog ears her traitorous mind supplied before she snapped back to her mission and tentatively asked.

"Are you Ranma Saotome?"

Kagome watched as Ranma tensed up, and were his fingers actually making indents in the wooden door, had to be her imagination…

"Yeah, who wants to know."

"Oh, I'm Kagome Higurashi…" and with those words Kagome lost the remainder of her courage. She hadn't even told him that she was his fiancée yet, and the boy was already hostile! Desperately she searched for an excuse for randomly showing up at his home, and knowing his name.

"ummm… well, you see…" she ground out, inspiration was taking far too long too strike, and Ranma looked increasingly impatient. Kagome half hoped he'd just slam the door in her face so she could make a hasty, though shameful, retreat. Finally an idea struck, and before she could reconsider its wisdom, she spoke.

"You're a martial artist, right," a perfectly reasonable assumption Kagome thought, considering he lives in a school for martial arts…

"Yeah," replied Ranma, seeming to relax, his stance changed from "fight or flight," to slightly cocky self assurance.

"Well, I heard you're the best around, and I was wondering if you'd train me," Kagome said, wondering as soon as the words came out of her mouth that she could cram them back in. 'Please say no, please say no, please say no!' she cried mentally. It was true, she had considered getting martial arts training, her aim with a bow was improving, but unless her target was at the perfect distance, and remaining relatively still, she was next to useless in a fight. On the other hand, she was in the present so irregularly and so seldom that it made no sense to actually schedule classes.

"Whoever told you that was right, I am the best," Ranma said, happily slipping into egotistical mode, "but I don't teach."

Kagome stared at him bug eyed, he was as bad as Inuyasha, why was she always running into guys with huge egos and bad attitudes? Then his words sunk in and she slumped in relief. 'Yes Kagome! You did it, now time to make your apologies and escape with your dignity semi-intact.'

Unfortunately for Kagome, Ranma completely misinterpreted her body language. Used to dealing with confrontational martial artists, and fiery Amazon warriors, he'd expected the girl to challenge him when he refused to train her, and try to force him into submission or acceptance. Then he could have easily knocked some sense in the girl and sent her away without a moment's hesitation.

Instead, Kagome had stared at him with a heartbroken look in her huge brown eyes, and then visibly slumped and bowed her head as if she was about to burst into tears. Ranma quickly backtracked, and spoke hastily in an attempt to stop her from crying.

"What I mean is, I haven't taught before, but I suppose I could try to train you, if you're willing to listen to me." Ranma cursed his traitorous tongue, he didn't actually want to teach some chick how to throw a punch, but watched in semi-relief as Kagome raised her eyes back to his with a look of utter disbelief, and—thank goodness—no tears.

Kagome listened in horror as her quick getaway went whirling down the drain. She looked up at Ranma in horror, hoping she'd misheard, only to see him eying her anxiously as if she'd implode at the slightest touch. At this point, she was quite close to breaking down and using the muscles she'd built walking around the Sengoku period to get the heck out of there, forget about appearances. Before she could act on her instincts and flee, Ranma spoke again.

"Hey, could you stay for a bit, we could start training today, start with some basic moves and warm ups for you to practice, you could even stay for dinner" and if you turn out to be completely untrainable, or turn into a psychotic hormonal maniac, I can go on an impromptu training trip to China Ranma added silently.

Kagome's embarrassment and panic warred momentarily with her very strong desire not to look like a complete fool. With her luck, if she ran now, the news would probably get back to her school and she'd become known as the girl with bizarre illnesses of the physical and mental variety. Rationality won out, sort of, and Kagome replied,

"Thank you, that sounds perfect, do you have a phone so I can call my mom?"

"Yeah, come on inside, it's right in the kitchen. I'll introduce you to Kasumi while you're at it."

"Okay," Kagome replied shyly, and she was ushered into the Tendo dojo and the door closed softly behind her.

After meeting Kasumi—who seemed very nice—and calling her mom—who sounded anxious but trusting—Kagome found herself in the actual dojo part of the house with her shoes off and Ranma eying her critically.

"So, do you have any experience with martial arts?" Ranma asked. At least Kagome looked relatively well built, lean legs and muscled arms showed that she was accustomed to strenuous exercise.

"Not really," Kagome replied nervously, "I'm learning how to use a bow and arrow, but I don't think that really counts…"

"Huh, that's unusual" explains the arms Ranma thought, not so much the legs, but, "are you a runner too?"

Kagome blushed, "not exactly, I do a lot of walking around though," and running from demons, and hiking across half of Japan, and climbing in and out of wells, but I can hardly tell him that.

Ranma watched the red flood Kagome's face and wondered, is she embarrassed that I'm looking at her legs, or that I asked her about running? What a weird girl. She's gonna have to get over this shyness and hyper body awareness if I'm gonna be training her how to fight.

"Okay, at least you won't have to break any bad habits this way," Ranma said reassuringly, "let's get started.

A/N: Here come more confessions of ignorance. I know next to nothing about martial arts, so Ranma's training of Kagome is probably going to be woefully incorrect and completely unrealistic. If anyone who reads this knows about martial arts, and wants to send me a link or tell me how things are actually done, I would be eternally grateful, and would change the story accordingly. In any case, I'm very sorry if it bothers anyone. Also, reviews would be wonderful, inspiring, and greatly appreciated.


	4. Chapter 3

Kagome plopped down for dinner a few hours later feeling oddly boneless and incredibly hungry. Ranma had managed to fit about a days worth of running around thee Sengoku fighting demons in just a couple hours! It was actually oddly refreshing to be put through a workout that wasn't life threatening, and Kagome couldn't help but think that maybe getting to know Rnama Saotome wouldn't be so bad after all, just so long as the fiancée issue never came up… Acchhh! She was completely delusional! This was a very fine line she was treading, if she was bright, she'd leave the Tendo dojo today and disappear forever.

For his part, Ranma was impressed by Kagome's stamina. He hadn't held back on the girl—much—she'd run for miles as if chased by the devil, done over a hundred sit-ups and push-ups each, and after proving herself incredibly flexible, begun to learn a few basic stances and moves. Yeah, the girl was touch, and it made absolutely no sense given what little she'd said about her background. An archery hobby and fondness for walking didn't add up to the display he'd just witnessed. Kagome should be completely wiped out, barely able to stand. Instead, she was sitting at the table chirpily talking about cooking with Kasumi while they waited for the rest of the Tendos to show up.

It just didn't make sense, and Ranma had learned from experience that whenever something looked too good to be true, it was. So, although he didn't regret taking on a 'student' as much as he'd thought he would, he was taking this good fortune with a grain of salt. A horrifying thought hit him, and he temporarily set aside Kagome's curious abilities. Akane would NOT be pleased about this… for that matter neither would Shampoo or Ukyo, but if he was lucky they would never find out about his new female trainee. Hiding it from Akane though would be near impossible. The object of his thoughts appeared in the doorway, and immediately noticed Kagome.

Akane's eyes flickered from Ranma's apprehensive face to the pretty black-haired girl talking to Kasumi. This did not look good. Please not another fiancée Akane thought, and fixed Ranma with an accusatory glare.

Kasumi noticed her inflammatory sister standing in the doorway and hastened to speak before a brawl could break out.

"Welcome home Akane! How did your cooking tutorial go?"

Akane scowled and sat down, "not so well, Nabiki kicked me off her team after I tried to add salt to the cookies instead of sugar, she actually made Dad take my place, said that she refused to waste the money she'd spent on the cooking course by failing because of my mistakes."

"That does sound like Nabiki," Kasumi sighed sympathetically, "are they right behind you?"

"No, the instructor offered an extra free session on noodle making. They said not to wait up for them."

"Oh well, I suppose we should start eating then. By the way, this is Kagome Higurashi. Kagome, this is my sister Akane, and Ranma's fiancée.

Kagome was suddenly ten times happier that she hadn't told Ranma they were supposedly engaged, and somewhat confused. Her grandfather must have made a mistake; the boy was already claimed…

Red flooded Akane's cheeks and she hotly replied "I am not his fiancée!" consuming Kagome further.

Kasumi cut in, "it's an arranged marriage," she explained to Kagome," Akane's still coming to terms with it."

Ranma unwisely chose to add "Heh, as if I'd marry that macho chick anyway."

Kagome watched, rather unnerved, as Akane's fury increased to the point where she could actually sense it emanating from her quivering form. It's almost strong enough to be demonic! Kagome thought, and wondered if purification would have any effect on the boiling teenager.

"Ranma, Akane! Please not in front of our guest!" Kasumi pleaded.

Ranma, Kagome, and Kasumi all watched in relief as Akane's anger subsided and she smiled sheepishly at Kagome.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to let my temper get out of hand," no longer distracted by Ranma's insults, Akane finally registered Kagome's name, "wait a sec, I've heard of you! Are you that girl from Adachi who is always missing school because of strange illnesses?"

Kagome froze, I'm infamous?! She thought with dismay. "Umm, yeah, how did you hear about me?" Please don't say I'm some sort of local legend!

"I'm good friends with Hojo's cousin, and she's mentioned you a few times. It's amazing that you're still in school despite battling so many maladies," and that you don't seem at all sick Akane thought suspiciously, looks more like you're skipping school and taking advantage of Hojo's kindness to get expensive medicine, probably reselling his gifts on the black market. I always thought you sounded suspicious. I hate liars!

Ranma looked at Kagome curiously as well. Numerous illnesses and absences, and yet she was in perfect shape. Very odd, maybe she was faking and training instead, but it seemed out of character. Form what he'd seen of her, Kagome was nice, and didn't have the ego necessary to be rampantly disregarding rules and expectations. Ranma felt Akane's hackles rising and saw with dismay that she was targeting Kagome with a suspicious stare.

Kagome squirmed under Akane's intense gaze. She didn't know what assumptions the girl was jumping to, but this situation was spinning out of control, fast! "Thank you for your concern, it really isn't as bad as it sounds though, and I still have plenty of time to study."

"Really?" Akane inquired innocently, eyes narrowing, "I heard you were being treated for arthritis, meningitis, chicken pox, an invasive fungus, and a bunch of other things I can't even remember."

Kagome cursed her grandfather and scrabbled for an answer, "Umm, yes, I guess I'm just hard to beat," Kagome replied weakly.

Akane was going to continue in full cross-examination mode when Ranma stepped in to save Kagome from the line of fire.

"That's really great Kagome; it was really brave of you to come to me for training when you're so ill. I hope learning martial arts will help strengthen your body."

Kagome looked at Ranma gratefully, "Yeah, I hope so too. Thank you again for agreeing to teach me."

Akane whirled angrily on Ranma, "You're teaching her martial arts! You won't even instruct me, but you'll teach a stranger?!"

"Well, yeah," Ranma replied, suddenly inspired with an excuse, "it's therapeutic, to help with the arthritis, and there's a tradeoff, she's going to teach me how to shoot a bow and arrow."

Akane looked at Ranma in disbelief. How could he be such a dense annoying girl magnet? It was obvious to her that Kagome was just a creep looking to take advantage of him, she'd probably tired of Hojo and decided to sink her claws into Ranma under the pretense of martial arts training. How had she convinced him to teach her anyway?! Akane had been begging Ranma to take her training seriously for ages, but he'd just laughed. He'd only just met Kagome and was already defending her!

Akane was fit to burst, and was about to unleash her rage and expose Kagome as the tart she was, politeness to guests be damned, when Genma Saotome walked in. Kasumi jumped up with Kagome to introduce her and hopefully avert Akane's wrath.

Kasumi eagerly dragged Kagome over to Genma and said "This is Ranma's father, Genma Saotome. Mr. Saotome, meet Kagome Higurashi."

Kagome added hastily, sensing an escape route, "It's very nice to meet you Mr. Saotome, sorry to leave so suddenly, but I just remembered I have a test tomorrow to study for. I'd love to stay for dinner, but I really ought to go."

Kagome tried to edge past Genma, and out the door, but the man stood frozen in the doorway, face unnaturally pale with an expression of dread fixed on his features.

"Umm, excuse me please?" Kagome said warily, desiring nothing more than a quick escape, and very conscious of the seething Akane at her back.

"Kagome Higurashi, granddaughter of Michio Higurashi, fifteen years old?"

"Yeah," replied Kagome, her heart sinking faster than the Titanic, looked like she wasn't going to escape without numerous casualties.

"You must be here for Ranma. I know I promised he'd be trained as a preist, but you see he's my only child, someone has to carry on the family tradition, I'm sure you understand about tradtion, living in a shrine and all, please have mercy on my unfortunate child, he is all that I have, and he is already engaged to Akane Tendo. He's also cursed, clearly not a suitable husband for a shrine priestess…" Genma blabbered, unknowingly piling more and more dirt on Kagome's unhappy head.

Ranma looked slightly betrayed, "What? You're another fiancée? Why'd you say you wanted martial arts training? Why are you actually here?"

Akane was a cross between horrified and smug, she'd known something was up, figured that the girl was another fiancée come out of the woodwork. At least now Ranma might recognize her as a threat.

Kagome wished her powers included the ability to wipe memories, or disappear into thin air, but of course they didn't. Momentarily, she wondered what sort of hold her grandfather had over Genma to have terrified him so, she'd never figured her grandfather for the intimidating type, but you never know…

Kagome took a deep breath and tried to decide, lies, partial truth, or entire inconceivably strange but true epic. Whatever she chose, it didn't look like they were going to believe a word she said. Lying or partial truth meant at least sounding sane, but revealing her entire tale would leave her with a clear conscience and had the added benefit of taking an enormous weight off her chest. She'd been dying to confess her woes to someone outside her family. Even everything she told her mom was toned down so account for parental anxiety. Anyway, if they thought she was completely nuts, maybe they would decide she wasn't dangerous enough to kill…

Kagome stood strong, imagined Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango at her back for support and encouragement, and spilled her story.


	5. Chapter 4

Ranma was the first to break the stifling silence as everyone stared at Kagome in disbelief (and in some cases concern).

"Let me get this straight. You definitely do not want to marry me."

"Right," Kagome answered emphatically, "no offense intended, but I don't know you at all, and I'm way too busy to get married, or even spend the time to become better acquainted with you. I only came here to officially call off the engagement."

"Umm, about that 'time' issue, do you seriously expect us to believe that you wanted to learn martial arts in order to help you fight demons in the feudal era and collect the shards of some Shikon jewel. I mean, shrine priestess I can swallow, time travelling reincarnation fighting the forces of evil and balancing school on the side, not really."

Kagome sighed heavily. "No, I don't expect you to believe me, but you asked for the truth, so I gave it to you."

"I knew you had to be lying about the illnesses, but this is just ridiculous!" Akane ranted "How can you just stand there are make up such ludicrous lies? Are you trying for sympathy? In that case you should have stuck with the illness ploy. Your fantasies are more elaborate than Kuno's, but equally impossible. You're insulting our intelligence!"

"Akane, stop! Calm down! You condemn Kagome for telling us what she believes to be true." Kagome turned hopefully to Kasumi only for her hopes to be dashed by her next words, "poor Kagome must suffer from mental delusions."

"Then explain all those bizarre illnesses!" Akane snarled.

"It's my grandfather's fault! I was absent from school so much that he had to come up with something. I can't help that he only knows about old people diseases and strange ailments!"

Kasumi gently patted Kagome on the back sympathetically and overrode her answer. "Clearly Kagome's family would rather hide her illness instead of treat it. They must only let her go to school on days when she's well enough to break through her fantasy world."

Akane slowly calmed down, still suspicious she eyed Kagome warily, but a mad manipulator was a far lesser threat than a cunning deceptress. At least Kagome had lost all credibility with her wild story, and would no longer be able to successfully deceive Ranma. 'Hojo is definitely hearing about this,' Akane thought.

Ranma stared at Kagome, unsure of what to think. Insanity made sense, Kagome didn't seem nutty, but what other explanation was there? It looked like he'd just lost his first student, and been completely rejected as a fiancée. Ranma wasn't sure whether to be happy… or regretful.

Genma, who had remained in the doorway blocking Kagome's exit, stirred from his stupefied state and quickly jumped into action. Not particularly caring about Kagome's background, but determined to eliminate her as a fiancée he eagerly said "Since you're insane, you're obviously an unsuitable match for my son."

"What?" Kagome protested, "but I told you, I don't want him as a fiancée anyway!"

"No, no, no, I'm sorry, but Ranma must refuse your hand in marriage," Genma said as he ushered Kagome out the door, "it was a pleasure meeting you, but please don't come back."

Before kagome knew what was happening, she was outside, staring at the Tendo's front door. Feeling a bit dazed after her sudden expulsion, Kagome just stood for a moment at the stoop, catching snippets of the renewed shouting going on indoors.

"What did you do that for Pops?!"

"It was for your own good Ranma."

"That was very rude Mr. Saotome."

"Don't let her back in!"

"We should apologize."

"She's the one who lied to us"

"but she was insane"

"Ranma I forbid—"

"Stupid panda!"

"Roar!"

"Maybe we should just have dinner…"

Kagome finally snapped out of her trance and swiftly backed away from the house before someone could come out to apologize, attack, or interrogate. She made it to the street unscathed and took off sprinting towards home. Reaching the shrine in record time, she burst into the house, mortification warring with hunger, and swiftly losing ground to her rumbling stomach. Her mother looked up from washing the dishes, her hopeful expression quickly melting into concern when she saw her daughter, red-faced and gasping, enter to room.

Kagome launched herself forward to give her mom a hug, desperate for sympathy and understanding.

"Kagome, are you ok? Did something go wrong?" her mom asked, arms half hugging her daughter as she tried not to smear soap suds all over Kagome's back.

"It was horrible," Kagome moaned into her shoulder, "absolutely awful," lifting her head up she added, "and I'm starving, is there anything left over from inner?"

"I'm sorry Kagome, but we finished it all since we thought you were eating there."

"They kicked me out before dinner," Kagome replied glumly, and withdrew from her mother's arms.

"Oh, I see, well, how about you sit down and tell me what happened, and I'll make you something quick."

"Thanks Mom, you're a lifesaver. It started out okay. When I showed up at their home I was too nervous to tell Ranma about the fiancée problem, and I made up something about wanting to learn martial arts. He took me seriously though, and agreed to teach me. Most of the time I was gone, we were training, and it was really fun, at least until he asked me to stay for dinner. Then his real fiancée showed up, and at first I was relieved that I hadn't brought up our engagement, but for some reason she really hated me, and she knew all about my absences from school. I was being interrogated about that when Rnama's father showed up, and he remembered the engagement! After that I had accusations and questions coming from all over the place. I ended up telling them everything, even about my time travelling, just to stop them all from attacking me (bunch of high-strung martial artists). Of course they didn't believe a bit of it, and decided I was harmless but insane! Mr. Saotome kicked me out, declaring that I was an unsuitable match for his son!"

Mrs. Higurashi set a bowl of instant ramen in front of her daughter, trying to hide a smile.

"That does sound incredibly traumatic, but at least you're out of that place, and you accomplished what you set out to do."

"I guess so, I hadn't thought of it like that." Kagome said as she grabbed her ramen. "It definitely reminded me why I don't usually tell people about the well. I'd rather not be labeled a lunatic." Kagome looked up from her food and spoke accusingly around a mouth full of noodles, "you're smiling."

If anything, her mom's smile widened as she replied, "I'm sorry dear, but you must admit, it's an amusing story, and you came out unharmed, which is more than I can say for your usual exploits with Inuyasha. Hopefully someday you'll be able to look back and laugh at this experience. In any case, you never have to face those people again in all likelihood."

"Hmm" Kagome hummed in agreement, having resumed eating with rapt concentration. Silently she vowed to strictly avoid setting foot in Nerima for the next few years, and to put aside the time to make a list of more realistic illnesses for her grandfather to use.


	6. Chapter 5

Akane wasted little time in hunting down Hojo to warn him about Kagome's manipulative and bizarre behavior. A few innocent innocent questions about where and when he worked to her friend Kisa, Hojo's cousin, and she was ready to disillusion the unfortunate teen.

Had Akane considered her plan more carefully, she would have realized that barging into a medicinal herbs shop to explain to a bewildered cashier how he was being taken advantage of by his crush was perhaps not the best idea. However, Akane was not one for idle chit chat, dilly-dallying, or common sense when there was someone in need of rescue, so she took the alarmingly straight-forward approach, and a mere two days after Kagome's visit to the Tendo dojo, she was leaning over the counter towards Hojo, surrounded by hanging herbs, and emphatically explaining how Kagome was a dangerous, deluded manipulator and seductress.

"She gained entrance to our dojo under false pretense; supposedly to learn martial arts, but actually because Ranma was her fiancée! She didn't even confess that they were engaged until she found out that he already had a finacee—me!" Akane explained, trying to break through Hojo's mental block. She'd already introduced herself as a friend of his cousins, and launched into a diatribe about the ridiculousness of Kagome's extended school absences, but nothing was working on the boy! He just stared at her confusedly, and answered with, "I'm not sure…" or polite but unbelieving nods. Hojo worked in a medicinal shop for goodness sake, he ought to know about diseases, and acknowledge that Kagome's were just impossible!

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about with the fiancée situation, but I'm sure it was all just a misunderstanding." Hojo said in answer to her latest story.

"But there's moe," Akane said desperately, "she tried to feed us a completely impossible tale explaining her absences from school."

"Other than the fact that she was sick?" Hojo replied with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes! She said that she's been time travelling back to the feudal era to fight demons, and that her grandfather made up all the illnesses just to excuse her from school."

For the first time during her rant, Hojo looked thoughtful rather than confused, and Akane was relieved that she'd finally made an impact. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be the one she'd intended.

"You know, that actually makes a lot of sense," Hojo spoke softly, thinking out loud, "I always thought it was curious how she always looked so healthy, especially after she started getting 'sick.' Then there's those times she's come in bandaged up, and she always did take school seriously. A pack of demons would be more likely to prevent her from coming than a bout of arthritis…"

Akane stared at Hojo, mouth hanging open, "Are you serious? You won't listen to me when I try to point out the inconsistencies in her illnesses, but you'll believe a second hand account of time travelling and demon slaying?"

Hojo looked at Akane sharply, his normally pleasant face turning annoyed, "I don't understand why you feel the need to warn me against Kagome when you've barely met her. You've tried to convince me that she is insane, manipulative, and devious, but your own actions seem much more out of place. I've known Kagome for years, and she's always been completely honest, kind, and dedicated. Whatever reasons she has for missing so much school, whether it be illness, demons, or something else, it must be a valid one. I've listened to you patiently long enough, I would appreciate it if you would stop slandering my friend, and if you aren't going to buy anything, then I must ask that you leave."

Akane stared at Hojo in disbelief and encroaching shame. Either Kagome was a true master of deception, or she had been completely incorrect in her conclusions. Hojo's face provided her with absolute proof; there was no misty infatuation, only a steadfast loyalty that had obviously been earned.

Backing away from the counter, Akane tried to form an apology, an explanation, a defense, anything.

"Okay, I'll leave. I'm sorry for bothering you. I did not mean to act malicious… I didn't realize… thank you for your help, ummm… bye."

Akane awkwardly reached the door and practically fell out of the shop, shame coursing through her veins and turned her face a bright pink. Then and there she resolved to apologize to Kagome. Looking back, Akane couldn't believe she been so… vindictive. She'd been so upset about Ranma agreeing to teach Akane martial arts, and that he was treating some random girl more politely than his own fiancée, that she'd let anger and jealousy cloud her judgement.

Akane was relieved to find Ranma practicing a kata in the back yard when she got home. She wasn't sure if her resolve was strong enough to last through a few hours of waiting for him to show up. Settling down on the ground a couple meters away to wait, Akane grudgingly admired Rnama's skill. He might be a jerk of a fiancé, but she could not deny his martial arts prowess. All too soon, Ranma finished and crouched by her side. Before he could say anything, Akane burst out with "I'm sorry."

"For what? For calling me a pert, or hitting me with a mallet this morning? Or maybe for splashing me with cold water between classes so that Kuno chased me right out of school waving a bunch of roses.

Akane winced, she had been more angry than usual ever since Kagome's visit, and everyone (but Ranma especially) had suffered from her bad mood.

"Well, yes, but those weren't what I meant. I'm sorry that I blew up at you and Kagome. I was… jealous, and I shouldn't have abused you, never mind a guest.

"Jealous?" Ranma asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"That you were teaching her martial arts! Replied Akane hastily, doing her best to hide behind her short hair, and boring a hole in the ground with her eyes. "You've never taken my training seriously," she muttered, still a bit stung.

"Oh," Ranma sighed, relaxing from his crouch to sit beside her. "Look, if you really want me to teach you, I could try. I don't like hurting girls, and every sensei I've had has been brutal, but if it matters that much to you…"

"Really Ranma? Thank you! I don't care if I get injured, I want to improve!" Akane beamed at him happily.

Ranma shifted uneasily, Akane in a good mood was more unnerving than her violent rampages, they were at least predictable.

"Hmph, just don't blame me when you get roughed up, you're going to have to take it like a man, shouldn't be too hard since you're such a macho tomboy." Ranma waited for the inevitable attack and was completely thrown off when Akane just grinned at him.

Though she was cursing Ranma internally for his inability to make a nice gesture without adding in an insult, and dying to throw in a jab about his own gender issues, Akane grinned and bore it.

"How about this, if I ever complain unreasonably you can stop teaching me. By the way," Akane added, deciding a change of subject was in order while she was still ahead of the conversation, "do you know where Kagome lives?"

"Why?" Ranma asked suspiciously, "you aren't seriously going to confront her again, are you?"

"No, I want to apologize for my actions."

"What caused this sudden change of heart?"

"Ummm," Akane answered, not wanting to go into her embarrassing confrontations with Hojo, "I cooled down, and talked to a friend of hers. I guess I just realized that I acted unreasonably."

"So, do you believe her?" Ranma asked warily.

"Which part?"

"Well, everything, but mostly the feudal era stuff."

"Sort of…" Akane answered hesitantly, "I mean, we've seen and done some pretty improbable things too, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. Do you?"

"Kinda. She was certainly in good enough shape to have been trekking across the countryside, and she just seemed very trustworthy. I was thinking about visiting her shrine to check it out."

Akane bit back a reminder that Kagome had lied to them about the fiancée situation and instead replied "So you do know where she lives."

"Yeah, she talked a bit about her family while we were training. She lives in a shrine about thirty minutes away."

"Could you show me where it is on a map?"

"How about I just go with you?"

"Why?"

"Curiosity" Ranma replied casually, "plus that way you won't get lost."

Akane looked at Ranma suspiciously, he wasn't usually so considerate, surely he didn't like Kagome. "No other reason?" she asked pointedly.

"Well, fighting demons does sound like pretty good training, and it'd be hard to be chased around by psychotic fiancées if I'm in a different dimension…"

Akane stared at Ranma, relieved but slightly incredulous, "Sometimes I wonder about your sanity. I used to think you were just unlucky, but I was wrong. You actually seek out trouble."

Ranma smiled wryly and stood up, "Guess so, but I could do without the girls chasing after me. I just want to be the best, and that takes training. Anyway, I'll be going there at some point, so we might as well go together. That way I can keep you out of trouble."

"Or I can prevent you from doing something stupid, you sound more like a masochist than a martial artist sometimes. Let's get going."

"Right now?" Ranma asked, offering Akane a hand, which she ignored.

"Why not?" Akane asked, standing up on her own, "Did you plan on packing for an extended training trip before you left? That might look odd when you show up at the shrine."

"Heh, a true martial artist can survive on nothing but his surroundings."

"You mean stealing?" Akane replied dryly.

"That's Pop's style, not mine."

"Oh, then changing into a girl and begging for food?"

Bickering amicably, the odd couple left the dojo, heading for the Higurashi shrine.

A/N: Looking back at my original summary settings for this story, I realized that I posted this as an adventure/general with Ranma/Kagome pairing. Since then I have discovered that I'm really bad at writing action, not much better at romance, and not really sure where this story is going. I shouldn't have put Ranma and Kagome down for my characters, because, at the moment at least, I don't really see them together. That could change, but if anyone is reading, or started reading this story because they like Ranma/Kagome pairings, or hate Ranma/Akane pairings, I'm sorry to have been misleading. I'll be changing the settings as soon as possible to more correctly reflect my stories status. If nothing else, Kagome's grandfather will definitely still be pushing for Ranma as a fiancée.


	7. Chapter 6

"You know, maybe Kagome had such great endurance from climbing all those stairs," Ranma said, looking back at the long flight they'd just covered.

"I'm sure it didn't hurt matters," Akane replied, "now what do we do?"

"Knock on the front door, talk to that old guy sweeping leaves, scream until someone comes running, I don't care. I'm here for the well; you're the one who has to apologize."

"Fine," Akane replied, grabbing Ranma's arm and pulling him towards the old man, "obviously you won't help, but if you think I'm going to let you go jumping through some mystical well on your own, you're dead wrong."

Before Ranma could do more than splutter at her, Akane was standing in front of the old guy and talking.

"Hello, I'm Akane Tendo, and this is Ranma Saotome, we're looking for Kagome, do you know if she's at home?"

"Of course, I am her grandfather after all, but you can't see her right now. She's come down with mono, and is incredibly contagious. Come back in a few months and she might be better."

Ranma and Akane exchanged looks; at least it was a semi-believable disease.

"So she already left for the feudal era, figures…" Ranma said.

"What," Mr. Higurashi practically squawked, "my granddaughter is deathly ill, not hanging around with no good dog demons and kitsune!"

"Uh, I didn't say anything about demons." Ranma said

"Wait a moment, what was your name again?" the old man asked suddenly, waving his broom at Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

"Ahah! You're Kagome's fiancée! Of course you know about the well! I'm so glad you're here! You must rescue Kagome from the clutches of the evil demon Inuyasha, he came by soon after she visited you and dragged her off to the feudal era!" Mr. Higurashi said, ushering Ranma towards the well house, and completely ignoring Akane's presence.

Ranma decided not to mention that he already had a couple other fiancées to deal with since he was being so conveniently escorted to the time portal, but the name Inuyasha jogged something in his mind.

"I thought Kagome said that Inuyasha was helping her find jewel shards."

"She said that? Hmm, you must be mistaken, my granddaughter would never accept help from a demon." Reaching the well house in remarkably quick time, the old man shoved a bunch of paper into Ranma's hands. "Here are some of my most powerful sutras to help you defeat the demon. Just throw one of these at him and he will be instantly paralyzed if not killed."

Ranma tried to give the "sutras" back, saying, "I don't need this junk," but Kagome's grandfather brooked no protest, and he shoved Ranma into the well house amid a shower of paper, and closed the door behind him.

Turning to Akane, who had raced after the two of them, he gave a gap toothed smile and said, "Before you leave, perhaps I could interest you in an item from our shrine gift shop. We sell shikon jewel pendants and various other sacred items."

"Heck no! I'm going with Ranma!"

"You have no place in his sacred quest," he intoned solemnly, switching from salesman to shrine keeper mode.

"Sacred quest?! You just sent him to be eaten by demons! And anyway, I'm his fiancée!"

Taking advantage of the old man's stupefied expression and relaxed stance, Akane yanked the door open and jumped inside to see Ranma perched on the edge of the well, peering in curiously.

"Don't you dare leave without me Ranma!" Akane cried, stumbling down the steps leading to the well.

Ranma shot Akane a look, "You think I'd still be here if I hadn't waited?"

"Hmph." Akane said skeptically as she joined Ranma beside the well. "So we just jump in?"

"Mhmm"

"Looks kind of deep"

"Yeah, and guess what its called."

"What?"

"The bone eaters well."

"Bones!? Come on Ranma, stop trying to scare me off, you're probably making this up."

"Nope, looked it up after Kagome told us about the shrine."

"You've been planning this, haven't you."

"Kinda, but enough jabbering, are you coming or aren't ya?"

"Bah, a couple of stupid bones don't scare me."

"Okay, ladies first." Ranma said, leaping off the well rim and out of her way.

Akane gritted her teeth and vaulted into the well. She landed in a crouch at the bottom to absorb the impact, and looked up to see… Ranma's grinning face looking down at her. As she gazed at him, rapidly registering that she had NOT gone back in time, Ranma started laughing.

"Hah! You should see the look on your face! Priceless!"

"Ranma you jerk! You knew this would happen!"

"Yeah, I'd already been in and out a few times before you came in." Ranma gasped out between wild guffaws.

"Jerk!"

Akane continued throwing insults at Ranma, who had collapsed against the side of the well out of side he was laughing so hard, until an unexpected voice broke in.

"You! What are you doing here?"

Akane turned to see a disheveled Kagome kneeling on the ground and staring at her in dismay.

Momentarily stupefied by her sudden appearance, Akane's mind ground towards comprehension, and her mouth sprinted ahead. "Huh? Where did you come from? What are you doing here? Oh yeah… you must have just come back from the feudal era, I can't believe I didn't notice you arriving… and you live here, so you should probably be asking me what I'm doing here… which you just did… umm, I came to apologize for insulting and threatening you when you came to visit, and for telling your friend Hojo you were crazy, but don't worry, he didn't believe me, but I'm sorry for that too anyway, even if it didn't work, and I believe your story now, which is why I'm here… in this well… with you.

"Okay… that sort of makes sense. Thanks for apologizing," Kagome paused for a moment, and then added "let's just get out of the well for now."

"Hey, is that Kagome?" Ranma called down, finally recovered from his laughing fit.

"You're here too?" Kagome groaned.

"Yep! Nice seeing you again, any chance you could help me through this time portal thingy, it won't work for me."

"What?" Kagome cried as she started climbing up the walls of the well. Akane watched with admiration as she easily found toeholds in the rough stone, and tried to follow her example.

"No! I can't do that! Even if I wanted to, Inuyasha and I are the only ones who can go through." Kagome made it out of the well and turned to help Akane clamber out as well. "Actually, I can't even stay to talk. Sorry, but I have a dog demon to interrogate." With that, Kagome turned and jumped back into the well.

"Wait a minute!" Ranma shouted, and he followed after her. Akane, unwilling to climb out of the well again, rushed to the rim and peered down into the gloom.

Disclaimer: I can't believe I forgot to mention this before, but I do not own Inuyasha or Ranma ½.


	8. Chapter 7

Under different circumstances, Kagome might have been pleased to find Ranma and Akane waiting for her at the bone eaters well. She might have gracefully accepted Akane's apology and tactfully explained to Ranma why she could not, would not bring him to the feudal era.

As it was, she'd just been pushed down the well by her hanyou crush right after he'd stolen the jewel shards, and she was more concerned about Inuyasha's odd behavior (and the hole through his gut) than about her modern day life.

So as Kagome fell back through the well she felt only a twinge of guilt at abandoning Ranma and Akane. Maybe they'd still want to talk when she got back, but if not they'd live, unlike a certain confusing irritable dog demon who, like it or not, needed her just as much as she needed him.

No blue light surrounded her though as she dropped, and Kagome landed awkwardly on her hands and knees at the bottom of the well. A moment later Ranma landed beside her.

"Sheesh, I thought this thing worked for you."

"It should," Kagome muttered, staring at the ground. Increasingly anxious, she tried to figure out what went wrong. Maybe it was because Ranma had followed her, so the well rejected them both. Or maybe it was because Inuyasha took her jewel fragments, she'd never tried going through without them… and he had told her to 'go home' with more calm finality than usual. Kagome stood and turned to face Ranma, hoping that the former solution would work.

"Sorry, but could you get out of the well please, I think you might be blocking my way."

Ranma blinked at her for a moment in the face of her sudden transition from casual dismissal to polite request, but he rallied and replied "don't you have some sort of spiritual powers, why don't you just unblock it so I can go through too?" He was far from prepared for the blow up that ensued.

"Look, I have no idea why you want to go to the feudal era, but I doubt you have a good reason. Have you even considered the dangers of messing with time? My friend back there is injured, and you are preventing me from helping him! Unless you want death on your hands I suggest that you GET OUT OF THIS WELL!"

Thoroughly rattled (who'd have thought the timid girl he'd met a few days ago was capable of this) Ranma blurted out "Okay, okay! But could we negotiate some sort of time travel deal later…"

"Perhaps. Now just GET OUT!"

Ranma wasted no more time in leaping out of the well and joining Akane by the rim. He met her quiet snickers of glee with a sour look before peering at Kagome, who for her part was wondering if she should try jumping again. Instead she just climbed the walls until she was a few feet off the bottom before lightly falling back in. Nothing happened, and she doubted bullying Ranma and Akane into leaving the shrine would make a difference. In an echo of Akane's earlier tirade Kagome yelled "Inuyasha you idiot! Baka! Jerk! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" at the ground, venting her frustration and hoping that he somehow heard her through the time continuum.

Fuming, she fell silent after a minute or so and considered her options. There was no way she would let Inuyasha get away with this. How could he hug her one minute and reject her the next! On the other hand, there wasn't much she could do but wait. Unless Inuyasha came to his senses she was stuck, he'd always come for her before, but this time felt different… Akane's worried voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Kagome, are you all right? Can we help?"

Kagome sighed and looked back up. "No, the well just won't let me through." She said resignedly.

"I didn't break it, did I?" Ranma asked.

"No, I don't think so. It's probably Inuyasha's fault. We had an argument…" Kagome resigned herself to rescaling the walls of the well. "By the way, sorry for yelling at you. It's no excuse for my behavior, but I'm kind of stressed out right now."

"That's okay" Akane replied, casting a sharp look at Ranma as if daring him to say otherwise.

Kagome finally climbed out of the well and an awkward silence descended upon the three teenagers. Kagome felt drained, and couldn't bring herself to be curious about Ranma's obsession with time travelling or Akane's sudden change of heart. All she wanted was to be alone, at least for a little while, so she could let her dilemma sink in. "Uh, it was nice seeing you two again, but I don't want to keep you hostage here if you have anywhere you need to be" Kagome said.

Akane, relieved to have been offered an escape route replied "Thank you Kagome, we probably should be getting home, umm… good luck with your well.

To Kagome's surprise and Akane's dismay, Ranma was unwilling to leave it at that and blurted out, "Do you still want martial arts training? I mean, if you're going to be stuck in the present you might as well… I wouldn't mind teaching you." Noticing Akane's concentrated glare of annoyance he added, "I'm actually helping Akane out as well, so you could just join us…"

Kagome tried to give Ranma's offer the consideration it deserved. She would probably have more time… but she didn't want to think about that. Training would undeniably be helpful, it could help distract her, and maybe Inuyasha wouldn't be able to call her weak, useless, good for nothing but shard detecting. Mind made up, Kagome said "sure, when did you plan on meeting up? Were you planning to train at your house?"

"Actually, we were probably going on a training trip," Ranma replied hastily, ignoring Akane's increasingly confused glares. Sure he hadn't actually planned on going on a trip with Akane, but this was his perfect opportunity to find out more about the well. "Akane and I could just camp out in your backyard, if that's okay with your family, that way you can stay close to the well, and we'll have still gone on a 'trip.'"

"I don't think my mom would object (and my grandfather will probably be delighted), but wouldn't a dojo work better?" plus I still have to go to school, Kagome thought, I'm already so far behind! I guess this is more valuable though, and I was already planning on staying in the feudal era, so I could miss a few more days if necessary. At least I'll have more time to study.

"It would actually be better if you didn't go to the dojo again," Ranma said uneasily. Kagome stiffened and appeared offended so he hurried to explain, "It's just that, you probably wouldn't be safe there."

"What do you mean?" Kagome replied, utterly confused.

Akane jumped in, this at least she could understand, and though she questioned Ranma's motives for training Kagome, and especially for staying at her house, she definitely agreed that Kagome should avoid Nerima completely. "Ranma has a fiancée problem," she explained, "we aren't the only ones, and the others are kind of… scary. If they saw you with Ranma, staying with him, training with him, they'd probably try to kill you."

Remembering Akane's original reaction to her, Kagome understood, and wondered how much more 'scary' these other fiancées were. "I guess that makes sense. I don't mean to sound rude, but why do you have so many fiancées."

Before Ranma could answer Akane said, "Because Ranma seems incapable of choosing just one."

"Hey!" Ranma rebutted, "It's not my fault they're all a bunch of obsessed weirdoes! I've told all of them that I don't want a fiancée, but they just won't listen! It doesn't help that my dad seems to have engaged or sold me to every single girl we met traveling across China and Japan!"

Kagome looked back and forth from Ranma to Akane, given Akane's frightening temper, she was more inclined to believe Ranma, but ultimately, it didn't really matter to her. If Akane was right then he was no worse than Miroku, if Ranma was right then it sounded like he had legions of persistent Hojo's chasing after him. Either way, avoiding Nerima and the Tendo dojo sounded like a very good idea.

"Okay, I guess I see why you want to leave home to train. It must be really hard for you to live in the same house with so many other fiancées constantly showing up."

"You have no idea," Akane and Ranma said in unison, and then looked at each other accusingly, each obviously blaming the other.

"I don't know when you want to start training, or what you'll need, but I need to update my mom on the well situation, and make sure it's okay if you stay over. Have you met her yet? How did you even find the well?"

"Your grandfather practically shoved me in here as soon as he heard my name," Ranma replied

Kagome groaned, "Don't tell me he recognized you?" at Ranma's nod she went on, "what was he thinking? I guess at least he didn't try to sell you anything…"

Akane decided not to mention that he had offered to show her the gift shop, and Ranma replied, "he wanted me to save you from that Inuyasha guy, said that he'd kidnapped you."

"What?! I knew grandpa didn't like Inuyasha, but still, he should know better. Never mind you'd probably just get killed."

"Hah, I can take on some wimpy dog demon any day, but I suppose if you don't want me to I'll leave him alone."

Kagome was skeptical, but decided not to argue. "Thanks for the offer, but I can deal with Inuyasha just fine on my own. Since you haven't met my mom yet, how about you come inside so we can run this by her before you leave to get whatever you'll need for training?" Kagome hoped that they would need to do lots of packing. Obviously she wasn't going to be getting rid of them quickly, but she still wanted some time to just rest.

"Meeting your mom sounds nice, but we'll need at least a day to prepare." Ranma said

"A day?" Kagome asked, it sounded too good to be true.

"The packing won't take long," Ranma hastily replied, "but Akane and I are going to have to make up some excuse for disappearing, and make a false trail in case we're followed, which will almost definitely happen. If anyone discovered that we were here, the hoards would descend." At this last comment, Ranma and Akane cringed in unison.

Kagome questioned the wisdom of allowing these two into her home, and fervently hoped that no 'hoards' found them. "Take as long as you need to lead them away, a day, two days, I don't mind waiting." On that note she moved towards the door, and away from the unresponsive well.

A/N: It might be a week or so before I update again, so sorry in advance for the wait. I just started my new classes, and I'm drowning in homework. I also need to update my other story first, because I've neglected it for a while now. In case you were wondering, I'm joining with the Inuyasha story at the part when Sesshomaru (with Naraku's help) attacks Inuyasha and nearly kills him, then Inuyasha takes the jewel shards from Kagome and sends her to the present for her own good. Sango hasn't yet joined the group. I'm not matching up with the Ranma series at any particular point because except for a few characters it isn't playing as great a role (and partly because I haven't read it in a while, don't own a copy, and haven't watched the tv series).


	9. Chapter 8

Kagome's mother had been astonishingly polite and accommodating when Kagome asked if he and Akane could stay at the shrine for a few days. Apparently placing her daughter's safety before schoolwork, she'd been delighted to hear that he was going to teach Kagome self defense, but instantly rejected the notion of them camping in the backyard. Instead, he was offered a place in Souta's room while Akane slept over in Kagome's room. The fiancée issue was smoothly brushed over, though Ranma had been slightly discomfited by the appraising gleam in Kagome's grandfather's eyes.

The escape from Nerima went nowhere near as smoothly. Ranma and Akane took every possible precaution. They spoke to no one of their plans, argued as usual at dinner, unobtrusively packed their clothes, left a quick note explaining how they were leaving to train in China, and pretended to leave for school the next day. Unfortunately, the worst possible person found their note. Nabiki usually left for school before them, so they'd thought she wouldn't be a problem, but that day she doubled back to pick up a forgotten textbook and discovered their message. A mere ten minutes later, half of Nerima thought that he and Akane were eloping to China, and Nabiki Tendo had made a very tidy profit.

If it weren't for the fact that their fiancées, admirers, and stalkers had dramatic streaks a mile wide, Akane and Ranma would surely have been doomed. Thankfully, they were all quite vocal about expressing their rage, so when Akane and Ranma heard cries of "NOOOOOO," "AKANE," "RANMA," and "DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE" erupting across the city, they wasted no time in executing their backup plan, changing into monk disguises, abandoning their packs, quietly sneaking out of Nerima, and heading straight for the Higurashi shrine.

Naturally, fate couldn't let the two of them escape unscathed, and a mere couple blocks away from their destination the heavens opened and it began to rain. Ranma reverted to girl form, and their robes were soaked. Thankfully they were voluminous enough to still serve as adequate disguises, and they were already out of Nerima, but Ranma was reluctant to continue. Akane kept walking, ignoring the rain, until she noticed that Ranma was no longer by her side. She stopped and turned to see a dismal redhead in monks robes a couple inches too long staring dismally at the sky.

"Cmon Ranma, we're almost there,"

Ranma looked away from the sky. Damn it all, he'd wanted to hid his cursed form from Kagome as long as possible, why couldn't he have brought an umbrella?! Slowly he said, "You know Akane, we weren't supposed to show up at Kagome's for another day, why don't we wait until this storm passes, get a cup of tea or something."

"Ranma you dummy! That doesn't make any sense! We're almost to Kagome's house, you look like a cosplay experiment gone wrong, half of Nerima is probably on our tails, and you want to loiter around the neighborhood until we're discovered?!"

Ranma winced, there went that argument, time to try a straight attack, "look, Akane, what do you think Kagome's gonna do when she finds out I change into a girl?"

"How should I know, and what does that have to do with anything anyway?"

Ranma gritted his teeth, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl right now, and don't you remember how you reacted?"

"Oh," Akane said, light dawning on marble head, "I tried to drown you in the bathtub," she said, recollecting the incredibly embarrassing incident. Snapping out of her memories she said, "but that was completely different! You saw me naked!"

"You walked in on me!"

"Because I thought you were a girl!"

"Exactly my point!"

"What point?!"

Ranma resisted the urge to start ripping his hair; he wasn't going to spell it out for her! It was bad enough that he'd been hurt by her abrupt turnabout; there was no way he'd admit to it.

Akane watched, puzzled and annoyed, as Ranma tried to make a run for it and instead tripped over his own robes and fell flat on his face. He was behaving completely irrationally! "Don't tell me you're afraid of showing Kagome your curse," she said, kneeling down next to him. Ranma refused to look at her.

Akane tried to dredge up some sympathy, "Look, the girl hangs out with a dog demon and jumps through wells; I doubt she's going to judge you." Ranma remained unresponsive. "And even if she does, what's the worst that could happen?" Akane considered her own question for a moment, "I suppose she might kick us out, or at the very worst try to shoot you with her bow and arrow (mallets don't seem to be her style) but that seems kind of drastic... or maybe she'd purify you... "

"This is not helping," Ranma muttered at the ground. Unfortunately for him, Akane caught his words.

"Fine," she said forcefully, "be that way. I try to be nice, but do you care? No. I'm not going to wait for your stupid fan girls to catch up and dismember me or something. We are going to Kagome's house right now, and you're going to have to suck it up and be a man." With that she hauled Ranma to his feet and started dragging him down the street. Ranma didn't put up much resistance except to point out "You know I am a girl right now," to which Akane responded "see if I care."

They made an odd sight, Akane dragging Ranma along as he tried to keep from tripping over sopping wet orange robes. It wasn't long before Ranma found himself standing before Kagome's front door while Akane firmly knocked. Kagome's mother answered the door.

"Akane, I wasn't expecting you so soon. Kagome's already left for school since she wasn't expecting you until later. Please come in." As Akane entered, followed by Ranma she looked curiously at the two of them and closed the door. "May I ask who your friend is?"

Ranma braced himself for the worst and said, "I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."

Kagome's mother just gazed quizzically at the obviously mortified redhead. "I'm afraid I don't understand..."

In a rush Ranma said "I'm the same Ranma you met yesterday, but I'm cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold because I fell into the spring of drowned girl at Jusenkyo. It happened a few years ago, and I still haven't found a cure. If you could heat up some water than I'll show you."

Kagome's mother tried to sort through Ranma's incredibly fast explanation and came up with "you're cursed, and you need hot water?"

Ranma nodded and waited for a reaction, an explosion, anything, but all he got was.

"How about you go have a bath then, you look chilled, and that way you can change out of those muddy clothes. I'd be happy to wash them for you."

Ranma was momentarily dumbstruck. This was not the reaction he'd been expecting. "Oh, ah, thank you, but I don't actually have a change of clothes; we had to abandon our packs on the way here so we wouldn't be recognized."

Kagome's mother gave the two of them a sympathetic smile and said "In that case you can borrow some of Ji-Chan's robes, at least until I get those robes washed. Akane, I'm sure Kagome wouldn't mind if you borrowed some of her clothes for now. If you'll follow me, I'll show you where the bathroom and her bedroom are."

Ranma followed Kagome's mother as she led the way upstairs, not missing Akane's 'I told you so' look as they walked next to each other. He wondered if this nonchalant acceptance of the bizzare was a family trait, a result of extended demonic exposure, or a sign of insanity. Whatever the reason, he was grateful.

A/N: Sorry for the extended wait! I'll try to have the next chapter up tomorrow, I already have it all planned out.


	10. Chapter 9

Kagome returned home to find a young man in monk's garb backed up against the house trying to fend off her grandfather's overly enthusiastic sales pitch.

"Young man, please try this mummified foot of water sprite, it's sure to break your curse, or at least wear this lucky charm to protect you against further calamnity."

"Thanks, but I doubt that will work any better than the jellied frog demon legs you slipped into my teas, or that powdered I don't know what you dumped on me."

As Kagome hurried towards her grandfather, determined to pull him away from his victim, she realized with surprise that it was Ranma. Stepping between the two she said "grandpa, stop trying to sell that stuff to Ranma, he's obviously not interested."

"Kagome, I am merely trying to release him from his curse. As my son in law all this is free."

"Curse?" Kagome said. At the same time Ranma protested "I'm not your son in law!"

"I admit, you might not be one for much longer if we can't fix this gender curse," Michio Higurashi conceded, "but I refuse to give up hope!"

Ranma wavered between defending his masculinity and embracing this potential escape route, but before he could do either Kagome said, "would one of you explain to me what's going on?!"

"It's terrible, terrible," Kagome's grandfather wailed before Ranma could intervene, "your fiancee is cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water."

"Oh," Kagome looked at Ranma for affirmation and he responded with a nod. She thought for a moment about Miroku's deadly wind tunnel, and about Inuyasha stuck to a tree for fifty years and then said, "That doesn't sound too bad."

Ranma snorted, obviously disagreeing with her, "you have no idea." Her grandfather added "of course it's terrible! How are you supposed to produce children with a girl, we must find a way to cure him, perhaps if we combine spiritual powers..."

"Grandpa! I already released Ranma from our engagement, and even if I hadn't, I'm not going to judge him because of some stupid curse. Aren't I a little young to be bearing children anyway!"

Her grandfather continued to look mutinous, but before he could say more Kagome grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled him into the house. She didn't stop until they were in the kitchen and away from her grandfather who had retreated to the shed to search for more curse breaking artifacts.

"Thanks for getting me out of there," Ranma said awkwardly, breaking free of her hand and moving to slouch against a wall The effect was somewhat ruined by the badly tied robes which hung rather haphazardly off his body."

"No problem" Kagome replied, setting down her bag, "gramps can go a bit overboard. Why didn't you tell me about the curse earlier?"

"It didn't come up" Ranma said, avoiding her eyes.

"Hmm," Kagome hummed, time to change subjects, "where's Akane? I thought you would take longer to get here."

"She's with your mom somewhere," Ranma said, marginally relaxing, "they were trying to make something out of her robes so she wouldn't have to keep borrowing your clothes."

"What's up with those things anyway?" Kagome asked, gesturing at Ranma's orange ensemble. "I thought you went home just so you could pick up your clothing."

"We had to change plans rapidly, ditch our packs, and change into disguises. Somehow word got out that we were leaving almost as soon as we left the dojo."

"Scary," Kagome said sympathetically, "but there can't be many monks in Nerima, because you have that thing tied completely wrong."

"Oh? Well, you're right, I can't remember the last time I've seen one. I guess Akane and I were lucky not to be discovered. It makes sense that you'd recognize it since you live in a shrine."

"Heh, no, it's because I travel with a cursed monk. He doesn't act particularly holy, but he still wears the robes, though they're a dark blue."

"Cursed? Did he run into Jusenkyo too?" Ranma asked, it would certainly explain her family's casual attitude (excluding her grandfather).

"No, it was a demon named Naraku. It's a generational curse that was first cast on his grandfather. He has a wind tunnel embedded in the palm of his hand, kind of like a black hole. Most of the time he keeps it sealed with his spiritual powers, but it comes in handy during battle."

"Some curse," Ranma grumbled, it sounded pretty convenient to him.

"Yeah," Kagome said, "downside is that the hold gets a little bit larger every day, and it will eventually consume him, so he's doomed to a very short life span. Thanks to that, he's kind of obsessed with fathering an heir, asks every woman he meets to bear his child. He blames it on the 'curse,' but I think womanizing runs in the family as well as the curse."

Ranma considered her story for a moment while Kagome eyed him wryly. Maybe turning into a girl wasn't so bad after all, death certainly helped put things into perspective. At that moment Kagome's mother walked in, closely followed by Akane wearing a simple orange gi.

Akane's hackles rose when she saw Ranma and Kagome alone together, but she fought to rein in her wildly galloping imagination. This was Kagome's house, she had every right to sit in the kitchen and talk to Ranma. She wasn't Shampoo, or Ukyo, or Kodachi, and they still had all their clothes on, so some of her insane assumptions were simply impossible. If she wasn't careful she might become worse than Kuno. Speaking of clothes, Akane smirked.

"Couldn't wait to get out of those ceremonial robes, huh Ranma? Though, I can't say the orange look suits you much better."

"You're one to talk," Ranma fired back, "what was wrong with Kagome's clothes, too tight for your uncute tomboy figure?"

"It wouldn't be polite to borrow Kagome's things." Akame primly replied.

"I don't mind," Kagome offered, "after all it's kind of my fault you're here."

"Yeah Akane, so there's nothing stopping you."

Akane gave Ranma a dirty look and then, blushing, apologetically said "It's not so much that they don't fit, but they're kind of short..."

Kagome looked at Akane in incomprehension for a moment. The girl was at least an inch or two shorter so why... realization dawned on her and she turned pink. Her mother laughed lightly and beamed benevolently at them all. "That would be my fault Akane, I gave you one of Kagome's uniforms becaues they were the closest at hand. It's true their dress code is a bit... unconventional. I'm sorry if it bothered you."

Kagome silently thanked her mother for smoothing over the situation. Admitting at this point that she also wandered around the feudal era in her school uniform would not be a good idea. Perhaps it was time for a change to something less revealing, but still practical. Priestess robes were out of the question, especially since their run in with resurrected psycho Kikyo, a kimono would just be ridiculous, and she didn't really want to destroy any of her nicer clothing. Demon blood and gore all over her hated school uniforms brought a certain satisfaction; the same would not be true of her ordinary garb.

Kagome shelved the problem away for later perusal and said "I have other clothes you can try on that are more reasonable. The gi will probably be most suitable for training, but other than that my closet is at your disposal." As an afterthought she mischievously added "and that goes for you too Ranma."

"What?" Ranma asked, uncomfortable with this turn in the conversation.

"Well, since you turn into a girl it makes sense that you might need to borrow my clothes" Kagome said innocently.

Ranma looked horrified at the thought of wearing a dress or skirt. Kagome and Akane shared looks of satisfaction as he became pale and turned inward, obviously lost in contemplation of such torture. For the first time it occurred to Akane that maybe training with Kagome wouldn't be so bad after all, she obviously had a backbone, and even better, a similar sense of humor. Fortunately for Ranma, Kagome's mother came to the rescue yet again.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," she said, casting reproving glances at the two girls, "I can modify your robes as well if you'd like, or I might be able to find some of my husband's old things and cut them down to fit you."

Ranma snapped out of his daze, "Thanks Mrs. Higurashi, but I don't want to impose. I'll figure out a way to get our packs back, we hid them pretty well, and they're not too close to any danger zones... I could probably sneak in, grab them, and sneak out.

"Bad idea Ranma," Akane cautioned, "they're definitely still searching for us, and you in particular. You'd be walking right into the lion's den."

"Keh, I can do it, no problem," Ranma replied

"Do you really want to risk leading them back here though?" Akane said.

Ranma paused, risking himself was fine with him, but risking the Higurashi family didn't sit so well. Kagome's mother cut in, "why don't you just tell me where you left them and I'll pick them up for you. I have to go get Souta from practice anyway, so it won't be any trouble.

"Well," Ranma hesitated, "They definitely wouldn't recognize you, and probably wouldn't suspect anything..."

Akane made the decision for the two of them. "That would be perfect."

A/N: I'm getting worse and worse at chapter endings... but anyway, another short chapter for your perusal. I realize this is more filler stuff, and I'll try to get another one in tomorrow that actually advances the plot.


	11. Chapter 10

After a couple days living and training with Kagome, Ranma had learned a few important ground rules. First of all, never complain about study time. Waking up at the crack of dawn was fine, sparring to the point of exhaustion was a necessary evil, but interrupt her studying and an explosion was inevitable. Kagome seldom physically lashed out, but verbally she had no such hesitation

Ranma also had to cut back on insulting Akane. To his credit, he'd only been trying to reenergize Akane with a bit of unhelpful criticism, nothing out of the ordinary. Ranma had barely noticed when Kagome stopped practicing her kata in order to watch the two of them throwing insults back and forth; that is until she screamed "SIT!" He and Akane had turned to stare and found her standing rigidly straight, fists clenched at her sides. She turned bright red under their questioning gaze, but still managed to say "you shouldn't say such rude things to Akane," in a tone that brooked no argument. Ranma had started to splutter something inane about how it wasn't his fault, but Kagome had ignored him in favor of pulling Akane to the side and saying "I don't think Ranma is really a 'perverted cross-dressing cheating panty stealer either, let me tell you about a truly perverted monk I know..."

That wasn't the last time she yelled at him to sit either. When he'd discovered they owned a cat, as the creature slunk in and rubbed up against his legs during dinner begging for a treat, his natural reaction had been to flee. Trapped within shrine boundaries, the most attractive option had been the roof, where Kagome found him a few minutes later. When her entreaties, combined with Akane's reassurances failed to coax him down, she'd lost patience and screamed it again.

Despite that, they eventually reached a compromise, and Buyo was consigned to entrapment in Kagome's room for the duration of his visit. Most recently, he'd been explaining his numerous fiancées for her little brother's benefit, and Souta innocently asked what he did with so many women. He'd been about to reply 'run away mostly,' when she'd come out of nowhere and hastily said it. She'd apologized that time, muttering something about Miroku's cursed hands, but still not explaining what 'sit' was supposed to mean anyway.

Besides some of the eccentricities and bumps in the road, life in the Higurashi household wasn't that bad. He had to be careful what he consumed in case Kagome's grandfather had slipped some miracle cure into it, and the fact that there was a cat in the house sort of freaked him out, but it was still better than Nerima. Even Akane seemed calmer, though that could have been thanks to Kagome's influence.

Ranma wasn't sure how or when it had happened, perhaps it just naturally sprung from sharing a room, but the two had become close friends. He didn't know what they found to talk about—with Buyo staying in their room he gave it a wide berth, but they'd turned into comrades in arms. Thankfully they weren't united against him—he didn't need two girls screaming pervert and trying to hit him with mallets—but they were both highly skeptical of allowing him to time travel.

He hadn't given up on the idea, far from it, he brought up the topic at least a few times each day, usually during sparring when it was harder for them to argue with him, but so far he hadn't made much headway. His arguments that "they'd be able to continue training," "he'd help find jewel shards," "no more insane fiancées," or "I could find a cure for the curse," were inevitably met with (in his opinion) completely irrelevant comments about demonic cats, rainy weather with no hot water, and bloodthirsty creatures that would be happy to take advantage of his male or female forms.

Still, Ranma was nothing if not tenacious, and found renewed hope when, true to her word, Kagome demonstrated her skill with a bow and arrow to them. Within seconds it was apparent that she was operating more on sheer force of will than skill, because while the arrows flew from the bow with deadly speed they were decidedly lacking in accuracy, no matter how much she muttered 'hit the mark.'

Akane took the gentle path, and when Kagome turned to them with discouraged eyes quickly said "that was great Kagome, especially considering how you've been learning on the run."

Kagome gave Akane a weak smile, but looked expectantly at Ranma, already (after two days of sparring and brutal conditioning) used to his honest—if blunt and occasionally snarky—brand of criticism.

His verdict was not encouraging. "With skill like that, I'm amazed that you're still alive."

"I mostly have Inuyasha to thank for that," Kagome admitted, "though my aim is improving."

"And how long have you been trying this, months? Seems like you should be a lot further along by now," Ranma prodded. He was rewarded with Kagome's usual spark of temper.

"I'd like to see you try to do the same!" deflating a bit she continued, "It'd be better if I could actually get in some practice, but it seems like I'm constantly in life threatening situations, and I don't really have anyone to teach me. Kaede's nice, but I think she sometimes has trouble seeing past my resemblance to Kikyo, just like Inuyasha. She means well, but that's how I ended up with this thing," she said, waving the bow in their direction, "personally I'd rather have a sword or even a staff, at least I'd have a chance of hitting something even if I was just waving it around, but instead I'm stuck trying to master this impossible weapon. I mean, it's great for long distance, but kind of hard to deal with when there's a rampaging demon attacking. At this point I'm more likely to hit Inuyasha than the enemy."

"That's why I'm here," Ranma said bracingly, "to help you kill the bad guys and not your friends."

Kagome looked skeptical. "You told me you don't know how to shoot though." Eying him suspiciously she added, "and don't think you'll convince me that you should go to the feudal era so that you can protect Inuyasha and Miroku from my bad aim."

"Keh, that's not what I meant, though it's not such a bad idea..." Kagome's and Akane's withering glares discouraged that train of thought. "Honestly though, we've only been training in martial arts for a few days and you're already pretty good. If you just asked Kaede for some help with your bow and arrows you'd probably be better in no time."

Kagome looked thoughtful. "You have a point... but I'm hardly ever in Kaede's village for more than a day or so, and usually recuperating from injuries."

Ranma pressed his advantage, "in that case, I might not know anything about spiritual energy, but I could probably teach you to manipulate ki which can't be that different. That way you wouldn't be as dependent upon your weapons. Your training so far will probably help fend off regular humans, bandits and such, but from what you've said about demons you'll need some extra force to actually do damage."

Kagome stood lost in thought for a moment, weapon loosely hanging from her hands. Suddenly she snapped out of her daze and excitedly said, "That's perfect Ranma! If I could channel spiritual power like I did with that centipede woman that tried to eat me, combined with your martial arts training, I'd be unbeatable." Eyes shining she contemplated the possibilities, buoyed up on a sudden sea of confidence.

Ranma shifted uneasily, his plan was working a bit too well. Unfortunately for him, Akane's sharp eyes noticed his discomfort. "That's great Kagome," she said, pinning Ranma with an accusing glare, "but I get the feeling there's a catch here."

Ranma chuckled lightly, "Well, it took me years to learn how to channel my ki, and that was with constant training at the hands of my obsessive father."

Kagome looked crushed, and he hastily continued, "but it looks like you're a natural at channeling power, since you're able to unconsciously put spiritual energy into your arrows, so I'm sure it wouldn't take as long."

"I won't be able to learn it in a few days though, or even weeks, right?" Kagome said

"No, but if you'd let me come with you into the feudal era I could keep tutoring you, and maybe in a few months..."

"It always comes back to this," Akane shouted at him, unleashing her irritation, "why can't you get it through your thick skull. You are NOT going back to the past. I can't believe you're so obsessed with this!"

Ranma winced, but to his surprise, Kagome's voice didn't join Akane's, instead she looked thoughtful again. He was just as surprised as Akane though when she said, "I'll think about it."

"But Kagome..." Akane said.

"I didn't say I'd do it," Kagome said carefully, "but I'll consider it. You have to promise not to bother me about it anymore though." She said to Ranma whose face was a mixture of disbelief and triumph. "I'll even ask Kaede if she knows a way to bring you through the well, but I'm tired of hearing you harp about travelling to the past."

Akane looked betrayed. "Kagome, how could you, after everything we talked about. We agreed it was too dangerous!"

"I know Akane, but after seeing Ranma fight, and hearing your stories, I think he'd be okay. I agree that going to the past just so that you can run around killing demons for the sake of building up your strength is stupid and selfish, but I really need all the help I can get. If Ranma comes to the feudal era, I'm not going to let him run off and challenge random demons just for the heck of it."

Ranma decided not to endanger his precarious position by commenting on that. He had no intention of hanging around Kagome all the time if he went to the feudal era. Sure he'd train her, at least once a week, and maybe stop in and help collect the odd Shikon jewel shard or so, but he couldn't let himself be chained to her the whole time. It would completely defeat the purpose of escaping to another dimension; freedom.

Akane still looked unhappy, but a bit calmer, "Okay Kagome, but if Ranma's going to the past then I want to come too. I don't trust him not to just run off, and I can help you fight too."

Kagome sighed. Complications, complications, maybe it would be easier to just forget about it and leave the two of them behind, but gaining control of her elusive spiritual powers was so tempting...

"Sure Akane, I'll see what I can do."

Ranma was ready to argue with her about that, but Kagome quickly said. "Now that we have that decided, let's get back to training. Case closed." She strode past them and back towards the house. Calling back she said, "and don't forget not to bring it up again, or else I might change my mind!"

Ranma was impressed with the ferocity with which Kagome threw herself into training after their discussion. Predictably, she'd been disappointed to find that ki training involved quite a bit of meditation, but instead of cutting back on sparring she gave up her study time. Akane, spurred on by Kagome's quick progress, also improved more rapidly, and ended up joining Kagome in meditating.

A few days after Kagome's agreement with Ranma and Akane, and a week since she'd been blocked from the well their training came to an end. Kagome was in the middle of a three way match with Ranma and Akane when she suddenly faltered mid kick. Ranma took advantage of her distraction to send a punch at her head. Expecting Kagome to dodge the all too obvious attack, he hit a bit harder than usual, and Kagome was knocked out.

This wasn't the first time she'd been injured during training, though it was usually Akane who got too carried away with the force of her attacks, so Ranma had just pulled out the first aid kit, sent Akane to get some ice, and they'd waited for her to wake up.

She recovered in a few minutes, but stood too quickly and nearly collapsed again. "Take it easy," Ranma said, catching her before she could fall, "just stay still for a minute; that was a pretty hard hit you took." Kagome shook him off and ran for the well.

"I don't have a minute, I can sense the shikon jeweI. I think it's coming from the well! This could be my only chance to go back!"

Ranma and Akane chased after her and caught up at the well house where Kagome was already at the bottom of the well, but still in her own time.

"Are you sure you felt anything Kagome," Akane asked cautiously as Kagome stared intently at the bottom of the well.

"Yes! There's something there," Kagome replied, "I'm positive." Kneeling down she started frantically digging. "If I can just reach it..."

Ranma leapt into the well too, trying to sense whatever it was she was feeling. "I'm not sure about this Kagome..." he started saying, but before he could finish his sentence Kagome was enveloped in a blue light. Ranma turned away, blinded by the flash. When he recovered his sight, Kagome was gone.

"Now what?" Akane asked, peering down from the top of the well.

"We wait."

A/N: Sorry, sorry sorry about the delay! This chapter was evil... very hard for me to write, and I still don't like it that much. I don't want to dwell much on Kagome's training with Ranma and Akane, at this point I'm just trying to get them through the well so I can move on with the story. However, I think the next chapter will come more easily, and I'll try to get it up by tommorow or Monday. Sorry again for the wait!


	12. Chapter 11

Kagome landed back in her own time, head still whirling. She'd returned to the feudal era to find that her suspicions concerning Inuyasha were correct. As if taking the jewel shards wasn't bad enough, he'd also shoved a tree down the well! Not that she was complaining too much. After all, Shippo had used the tree to hide from the wolves chasing after him, and thanks to that she'd been able to return, but still...

If it weren't for the fact that Inuyasha was still badly injured, and yet still managed to save her life again, and the dumbstruck look on his face when she emerged from the well and flung herself at him, then she probably would have sat him until he punched halfway through the earth and then dug him up to practice some of her martial arts techniques. She settled for a hug and some cathartic yelling instead, but then Naraku showed up!

They came agonizingly near to killing him, to eliminating the root of their troubles, only to have him slip away without a scratch. If only Inuyasha had just been a bit closer, close enough to do more than cut his baboon pelt in half, exposing a spider shaped scar scrawled across his back. If only she had enough power to cut through Naraku's miasma. If only... but 'if onlys' wouldn't get her anywhere.

Kagome shook her head and started to clamber out of the well. She ought to be considering what Kaede had told her about Naraku's origins—the bandit Onigumo and his twisted obsession with Kikyo. It certainly helped explain Naraku's unusual use of the jewel shards, handing them out among weaker demons, manipulating their minds.

Kagome was jolted back to the present when Ranma appeared at the rim of the well and pulled her the rest of the way up. She'd been so caught up with the news about Naraku that she'd forgotten he and Akane were still at her house. She was momentarily grateful that she'd decided to return home to pick up her supplies. What if she hadn't remembered them until she was already on the road again, and unable to return for days if not weeks?!

"Thanks Ranma, " Kagome said as she steadied herself beside him, "you haven't been waiting for me, have you?"

"What was I supposed to do?" he said somewhat exasperatedly. "You disappear before my eyes without an explanation, a goodbye, or even a weapon and expect me to do what, go weave daisy chains?"

Kagome smirked, "daisy chains?"

"Don't try to change the subject. What happened back there? You've been gone for three hours! Did you find a way to get me through the well, since obviously just jumping with you isn't going to work."

"Whoah! Slow down, I'll tell you everything while I pack. Where's Akane by the way? I might as well give her the update at the same time."

"She went shopping." Ranma said in disgusted tones.

"Shopping?" Kagome asked, not sure if she'd heard right. "I thought you two were trying to keep a low profile."

"That's what I said! But she wasn't particularly enthusiastic about 'waiting' with me, never mind in a confined space, said she wanted to do something 'useful.' At least she left in disguise, borrowed some miko outfit from your wardrobe and did something funny to her hair.

Kagome ruefully realized that Akane was running around town in the robes she'd borrowed from Kaede on her first trip to the feudal era. She'd been meaning to return them for a while now, but kept forgetting...

"Hmm," she hummed thoughtfully, "in that case I'll have to give you the run down and hope she gets here before I leave."

"You're going back already!?" Ranma said as he followed her into the house.

"Yeah, have to, I promised Inuyasha I wouldn't be more than an hour. We just had an encounter with Naraku, and might be able to pick up his trail if I hurry, never mind I have a lot of lost time to make up for."  
"Naraku? Who's he again?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Kagome asked, racing up the stairs to her room, "he's the demon that cursed Miroku with the wind tunnel, and today I found out that he was also behind Kikyo's death. Ask Akane for more details when she gets back, I've told her everything that's happened so far."

Ranma stayed at the top of the stairs while sounds of hasty packing emerged from Kagome's room. He wasn't getting any closer to that cat lair.

"Is that what you two talk about all the time? Why couldn't you tell me more about the feudal era?" he shouted.

"Because you're obsessed!" Kagome called back. "I wasn't going to fuel the flames! And what did you think we found to talk about anyway?"

"I dunno... shoes, makeup, clothes... girly stuff."

Kagome scoffed as she emerged from her room with an enormous yellow backpack. "For a guy who's cursed to turn into a girl you sure are sexist."

"Whatever" Ranma said as Kagome pounded down the stairs past him, "now will you tell me what's going on?"

"Okay," Kagome said as she dumped her bag at the front door. " Short version is, I made it back to the feudal era because Shippo dropped the jewel shards at the bottom of the well. He was in the well because a bunch of wolf demons were chasing him. The wolf demons were offspring of Ryōkan, normally an innocent forest demon, which was being controlled by Naraku via a jewel shard. Naraku used him to attack Inuyasha while he was still injured from his fight with Sesshomaru. Inuyasha managed to defeat Ryokan, luckily without killing him, he just knocked him out with a tree, and I sensed Naraku in the area. We almost got him, but he released a powerful cloud of miasma and escaped. Also, the whole time I've been gone Kaede, Miroku, and Inuyasha—when he wasn't locked away in a shed—uncovered more of Naraku's past. He used to be a human bandit called Onigumo who lusted for Kikyo, and he allowed demons to devour his soul in order to gain power and a stronger body. He was the one who attacked Kikyo, not Inuyasha. That also means he's half human... I think that's most of it, got it?"

Ranma's face was full of everything but comprehension. "Kagome, that made absolutely no sense! I have no idea who half the people or things you're talking about are, and you kept skipping from one thing to another. Could you go over that again in a systematic manner and actually explain to me what's going on?!"

Kagome gave an annoyed sigh. "I don't have time to explain everything to you Ranma. You're just going to have to catch up on everything with Akane. Honestly, you're so obsessed with going to the past to hunt demons but you don't know the first thing about the people back there. With your luck you'd probably run into Naraku and ask him to cure your curse, or insult Sesshomaru's fashion sense."

Ranma felt his ticket to the past swiftly slipping away. "We had a deal Kagome, I'll ask Akane about all this junk, just find a way to get me into the feudal era. You have asked Kaede how to get me through the well, right?"

"Uhh, I forgot."

"What?!"

"You just heard what happened when I got back. It was chaotic! I was so caught up worrying about Inuyasha's wounds, and reuniting with my friends, and hearing about Naraku, my brain was completely overloaded! I promise to talk to Kaede about it this time, though I can't promise results. By the way, is my mom home?"

Ranma was starting to feel whiplash from all the sudden changes of subject. Obviously Kagome was in a hurry, apparently her friends were in danger, and supposedly she had to go save the world, but couldn't she slow down just a little bit? He was all for boldly accepting a challenge, and acquitting yourself to the fullest, but this seemed a little overkill... was he like this? True he tended to be a bit obsessive when it came to finding a cure for the curse, and he wasn't above a little property damage, and he didn't really have time to listen to advice or warnings in the middle of a fight, but he wasn't this bad... was he?

Kagome was still staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer, what had she asked again? Oh yeah, her mom...

"She went shopping with Akane, didn't expect you to return for at least a day or so."

Kagome felt a tad crestfallen. She would have liked to talk to her mom before heading out again, but she couldn't blame her mom for leaving the house. Her whole family had quickly grown accustomed to her erratic trips to the past; they could hardly schedule their lives around her demon hunting adventures.

Kagome shouldered her pack again and headed back towards the well house. "Could you tell her I was here, and that I'll only be gone for three days at the most."

Ranma followed her to the well and resisted the urge to drag her back into the house. She paused at the well rim and shot him a guilty look.

"I really am sorry to leave you and Akane hanging like this. I promise I'll come back as soon as I can. I talked to my mom earlier, and she's fine with letting you two stay as long as you need to, but I understand that you probably won't want to if you can't go to the feudal era. There isn't much else to keep you here." With that parting comment she bit her lip uncomfortably, then turned and leapt into the well.

Ranma was left standing alone, contemplating her final words. She could never understand just how much he and Akane had gambled by staying at her house. Heck, he hadn't even figured out what he'd risked until the two of them were fleeing Nerima with a bunch of crazed suitors on their heels. Technically speaking there might not be much keeping them here, but they didn't have much to go back to either.

A/N: Yay! I managed to get another chapter out in a semi-reasonable time frame! Hopefully it doesn't feel too rushed. I'll try to get another one out by Thursday. Sometime next chapter or the one after that they'll finally go through the well!


	13. Chapter 12

"Are you sure that's all she said Ranma? That she was in a hurry and sorry for abandoning us?" She couldn't believe Kagome had come and gone while she was shopping, especially without some sort of explanation.

"Well, that was most of it," Ranma replied moodily. Akane had returned with Kagome's mother to find him furiously pacing in front of the well house and throwing the occasional futile punch or kick. He'd restrained himself long enough to politely give Mrs. Higurashi Kagome's message, but as soon as she went indoors, carrying all the shopping bags, the ranting began. According to him, Kagome had flounced out of the well, ignored him completely, refused to answer his questions, and then jumped back into the feudal era.

"She said something about a Naraku, and a Ryu what's his face, and that you would know what she was talking about."

Akane scrunched her eyebrows in thought, "I'm not sure about Ryu... half a name isn't really enough to go on, but Naraku... I think he's the demon who set Sesshomaru on them."

"So he's bad news." Ranma threw his hands in the air. "I could've guessed that." Akane watched, suddenly nervous, as a desperate almost fanatical gleam entered his eyes.

"You've got to help me Akane! I've gotta know what's going on back there! Kagome's being stupid and won't tell me anything, but you'll do just as well!"

"Ranma you baka, that's no way to ask for help!" Akane's anger overcame her unease, and she stomped off towards the house, leaving Ranma to chase after her.

Akane absentmindedly scritched Buyo behind the ears as she sat in Kagome's room; "Thank goodness you're in here," she said. "I couldn't take much more of Ranma's interrogation, and this is the only room he won't dare come in. Maybe I should get a cat when I go home, or I could just take you with me."

When it came right down to it she hadn't had the heart to refuse Ranma's request, well... more like demand to know more about the feudal era. For one thing he wouldn't stop pestering her, and for another he actually had a point. After all, they ought to know as much as possible before they went charging into danger.

Predictably, he'd been completely unsatisfied with her quick summary of Kagome's adventures thus far, and the various accumulated allies and enemies. There was just so much she could tell him after all. It wasn't her fault that she knew more about Inuyasha's eating habits than Sesshomaru's range with an energy whip... or that she and Kagome had spent as much time comparing love lives (and the lack thereof) as they had assessing the danger of a bunch of scattered jewel shards.

Frankly, she doubted he'd have been satisfied even if Kagome had filled him in personally, that might have been why she'd pawned him off on her. At least she and Ranma shared one thing right now; irritation with Kagome.

She, however, wasn't going to stand guard at an empty well for three days. If Ranma wanted to mope around, fine. She'd find something challenging, intimidating, terrifying to train in, something to stretch the limits of her capabilities in never before seen ways. She would seek out a new sensei, and master the art of housekeeping!

Or... at least cooking and sewing... actually she'd settle for mastery of mending. Reflecting on her shopping trip with Kagome's mother Akane smiled. She was sure that Mrs. Higurashi wouldn't mind taking their plot a couple steps further, extending her sewing adventure into a little kitchen experimentation as well. Even better, Ranma hadn't had a chance to belittle her cooking skills yet, so she'd be starting with a fresh slate!

Disregarding her borrowed robes, Akane strode purposefully from the room. Truth be told, the outfit was growing on her. It was completely impractical for her brand of martial arts, way too much fabric, and a little too big, but it sure was commanding.

She felt strong, imperial, and almost graceful wearing the red and white garb, and heaven knows she'd need a confidence booster if she was to attempt cooking. Shaking off the last vestiges of hesitation, Akane started her hunt for Mrs. Higurashi.

It didn't take long to find the woman; she'd headed straight for the laundry room in the back of the house which also served as sewing room and storage space. Thanks to its multiple purposes the room was larger and brighter than your average laundry room, and had a long, tall table dominating an entire wall along with the sewing machine.

Cabinets filled up most of the remaining space, no doubt filled with a combination of fabric, pointy implements of sewing torture, and cleaning supplies. Squashed into another corner the washer and dryer looked rather forlorn, accompanied only by a pile of school uniforms. Mrs. Higurashi had her back to the door as Akane entered, and was laying out the burgundy, navy, and forest green silks they'd just bought.

Her attention caught by the unusually large pile of dirty white and green uniforms, Akane wandered over to investigate the messy heap. A closer inspection revealed that each was damaged in some way. Some were burned, some ripped, and one looked partially melted, perhaps from acid. Obviously, Kagome went through a lot of clothes. Akane couldn't bring herself to feel any sorrow over the destruction of such ridiculously short skirts and irritatingly shaped shirts, but she felt some measure of pity for Kagome's mother who had obviously spent a great deal of time trying to salvage what she could out of the tattered clothing.

Akane's half hearted contemplation was brought to a close by the rustle of paper. She turned to find Mrs. Higurashi pulling out a stack full of... stuffed envelopes... from one of the table drawers. Curiosity peaked, Akane approached as Kagome's mother laid out the envelopes, noting that each had various styles of clothing sketched on the front.

"What are those?"

"Patterns"

Thus, Akane's Introduction to the Household Arts began.

A/N: This is the chapter I got stuck on right before I stopped updating altogether. I planned to embark on a grand tour of cooking, sewing, and housework while Kagome ran around in the feudal era, and instead lost all inspiration and inclination to continue... I've decided not to dwell on Akane's experiences after all, so as to continue on with the story, but I thought you all might be curious about what happened when Kagome left... so here is another short chapter to occupy you all while I work on the next bit of the story.


	14. Chapter 13

**TO THOSE OF YOU WHO JUST RECIEVED AN ALERT, GO BACK ONE CHAPTER TO SEE THE NEW MATERIAL.**

A/N: Kagome's words are in _italics_. (For apologies and groveling see bottom.)

Inuyasha waited outside of Kaede's hut presenting a seldom seen exterior of serenity. Legs crossed, eyes shut, back resting gently against the wooden slats, only spastically twitching ears betrayed his true tension. In truth, Inuyasha wasn't resting, or recovering from the latest arduous battle. No, he was hunting, lying in wait for a certain lecherous monk who hadn't kept his eyes or hands off of Kagome the entire way back from the Peach man's rotten home.

That damn monk had another thing coming if he thought hiding behind Kagome's (admittedly fraying) good graces would save him forever. Inuyasha would protect her virtue whether she wanted it or not. It was a pity Miroku was too useful to dispose of in a more permanent manner, but a little mauling never hurt anyone...

Inuyasha was distracted from these pleasant thoughts by Kagome's voice. Her pleasant murmur had intermingled with Kaede's in the background for quite a while as she recounted their latest shard retrieval, and had been mostly disregarded, but this was worrying.

"_I met this guy back home_."

Oh no. No No No No No No! Inuyasha grabbed Tesseiga's hilt. This was not good. He didn't know too much about Kagome's era, but he did know one thing. A 'guy' meant distraction. It meant more trips to the well and less time spent hunting jewel shards. It meant Miroku was suddenly the least of his problems. Inuyasha almost swore as he realized that in his agitation he missed more of their conversation. Hastily, he returned his full attention to the horrific words leading through the wall.

"_It's not like that!" _Kagome sounded righteously indignant, a good sign? "_My grandfather forced me to meet him, thanks to some dumb priest agreement made ages ago! One thing just turned into another and now I practically have a teacher and his fiancée living in my house!"_

Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. Kagome's grandfather was... odd; all those fake sutras and strange powders that mysteriously become stuck to his back when he went to fetch Kagome were sufficient evidence. Getting Kagome some old geezer as a live in tutor was strange, but perfectly reasonable compared to his usual antics.

The 'guy' was probably wrinkly, smelly, and well on his way to senility. The 'fiancée' had to be some kind of screaming banshee if the two old timers still weren't hitched. Kagome was probably bemoaning her fate to an unsympathetic Kaede. Inuyasha nodded sagely to himself, well pleased with this extrapolation of the discussion. Perhaps this would turn out for the best after all.

"_He's annoying_," Yes, annoying sounded promising. "_kind of like Inuyasha_," Hey! "_but Ranma's really been able to help me out so I'm not such a dead weight, and even though Akane was scary at first, she's become a good friend."_

Kaede murmured something that Inuyasha couldn't quite catch. Darn her scratchy voice, it was too hard to decipher through the layers of wall and insulation.

"_Yeah, but it still wasn't enough against that evil hermit, and Inuyasha had to save me—again—and almost got himself killed—again_."

Keh. He was half demon, tough. It'd take more than a nutty diamond hard sage to do him in. Even if he was in human form... and even if Miroku and Shippo were shrunk down to miniatures... and even if Kagome ended up stripped naked of clothes and weapons and stuck in a weird cellar hot spring. It turned out fine in the end! Though, that explained why Kagome kept trying to punch the weird mutant peach man. Maybe he hadn't imagined the pink tint in the air around her fists... hmmm...

More murmurs, probably comforting. It was too much to hope that Kaede would scold Kagome for almost getting herself killed.

"_The problem is, the whole time I was home, when stupid Inuyasha took the shards and stuffed a tree down the well," _That was for her own good! "_Ranma kept bugging me about the feudal era. He really wants to come through the well, and thinks that you can help him with his curse. Akane's so determined not to be left behind that she want to come too!"_

The old guy wanted to come through the well? No way! He didn't need another hanger on, never mind some squabbling elderly couple! From the sounds of things Kaede wasn't too pleased either. Inuyasha strained his ears, but was only rewarded by snippets of "foolish," "not serious," and "impulsive."

"_Well, he is cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water thanks to falling into a magical spring of some sort during a training trip gone wrong." _Keh, that sounded funny, might explain the fiancee too. _"I've tried to warn him that the feudal era is no walk in the park, but I haven't been able to get through to him. On the other hand, I am grateful for his help thus far, and he offered to keep teaching me martial arts and a new way to channel my spiritual powers. It isn't conditional on a ticket to the past, but I'm not so foolish as to think I'd have time to hunt jewel shards, go to school, and train in three different places! Ranma is ridiculously overconfident, but if even half of what Akane's told me is true he'll be able to hold his own here, probably even better than me."_

Able to hold his own? Hah, he doubted it! But, that didn't mean 'Ranma' and 'Akane' couldn't come through, get their miracle cure, and then stay with Kaede while he kept searching for jewel shards. After all, old people ought to stick together, and this way everyone would be happy! Kagome would get to work on 'school' in the village instead of scampering off to the well every other minute, and Kaede would get some extra defense for the village. Its vulnerability had been an itch in the back of his mind ever since the fiasco with Kikyo's ashes.

"_It's just; I haven't been able to make any headway with the bow and arrow. I end up feeling stupid and useless every time I try to use it."_

No kidding. Kagome's aim sucked, and seemed to only get worse over time.

"_Yet after a little over a week's worth of training with Ranma and Akane I already feel stronger."_

Well, he certainly hadn't noticed a difference... except for the clothes. At least now he knew where to lay the blame for Kagome's latest apparel. Miroku's look of dismay when Kagome came back in loose pants and a kimono style short sleeved top had been priceless, and Inuyasha had been pleased.

The amount of attention Kagome gathered with that little green skirt and sailor shirt was downright criminal. The way everything rode up as she ran, baring midriff and way too far past the thigh, the number of demons and humans who intended and attempted to molest her... Yes. Inuyasha had been delighted to say goodbye to the stupid "school uniform." That is, until Miroku took it upon himself to reacquaint his hands with Kagome's no longer enticingly displayed posterior, and experimented with different vantages while walking so as to better look down her shirt.

"_Can't you think of any way to get them through the well?"_

Darn, he'd definitely missed something, but when he got his hands on that monk...

"_Thank you Kaede! Ranma probably won't like it, but at least I'll have something to tell them when I get back."_

Wait a second, 'go back?' They had jewel shards to find, demons to slay. There was no time for a day or two of 'school' and 'tests!' Didn't she take their quest seriously? How could she keep abandoning them, abandoning him for her utterly unimportant and boring life in the future? A trip home once and a while to see her family once in a while was understandable, but were there no limits!

Inuyasha's balloon of righteous indignation never made it off of the ground thanks to a lack of hot air. Oh yeah, she needed to go home so she could fetch those new tutors. This would make sure that she didn't need to deal with 'studying' as often. Maybe just this once he could let her go without a fuss...but wait a second, when was she planning to consult him, the leader of their little group, about this decision?

"_What! But Inuyasha will never agree!"_

So she wasn't planning to tell him at all! Keh, figures. Shows what she knows though. Of course he agreed. In fact, he was going to march in there right now and order her to fetch them right away. Maybe he should go along too... nah, no reason to go giving them second thoughts, and in any case, he still had a monk to hunt down.

A/N: Hello readers. This is the part where I bow down and grovel while apologizing profusely for the lateness, shortness, and all around inadequacies of this chapter. If you've read my profile (recently changed) then you know that I have a multitude of reasons for not updating in a little less than a year, and you'll probably be disgruntled to hear that things probably won't get any better.

I'm still super busy, and I'm coming up on midterms, and I still haven't made it to the feudal era in this story, but I'll try to update more (maybe if I can get back into a weekly schedule things will come more easily), and I'm sorry for the wait.

For those who still have any clue what is going on in this story, and have bothered to add me to an alert list, I applaud your tenacity. Thank you for reading.

If any inconsistencies are noticed (it has been a long time) and mentioned I will try to fix them.


End file.
